They earned millions on illegal landfills of hazardous waste. Today they heard sentences

They earned millions of zlotys on hazardous waste. On Thursday, they heard sentences – from a year and two to eight years imprisonment for members of the so -called junk mafia.

– The circumstances of the burden on this matter. It should be stated that the activities of the accused led to very unfavorable effects on the environment, as well as generated huge costs for victims and municipalities. These circumstances spoke for the harsh dimension of punishment, because only in this way could you react properly to the devastating activities of the accused, as well as scare away the potential perpetrators of subsequent such acts – said Marcin Buzdygan, judge of the District Court in Częstochowa.

It was a multi -threaded matter. 29 people were convicted. The prosecutor accused them of committing nearly 200 crimes, 180 volumes of files were collected in this case, the indictment itself had 660 pages.

– After listening to the oral motives of the decision, I am satisfied. The vast majority of the court found our reasons, found our evidence as valuable – commented Sergiusz Skorek from the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Katowice.

It was an organized action reminiscent of the work of the company. At least from 2017, members of the criminal group rented storage halls and real estate, where they stored hazardous waste, contrary to the regulations. Then they abandoned such places.

– The profit mechanism consisted in the fact that payment was received for the collection of these waste from entities providing waste on the basis of fictitious invoices regarding allegedly provided transport services – pointed out judge Marcin Buzdygan.

Throughout the country, investigators located 11 such landfills, where a total of four thousand tons of waste were abandoned, directly threatening the life and health of man and the environment. The cost of their utilization is estimated at up to several million zlotys.

See also: 34 people, 17,000 allegations. CBŚP hit the junk mafia

– These hazardous waste is still stored on the property, they have not been removed. Fortunately, in the course of separate administrative proceedings, it was able to bear the obligation to remove this. This obligation was transferred to the commune – says adv. Tomasz Bieda, a subsidiary prosecutor's representative.

It is mainly local governments who bear the costs of removing the waste of waste. The convicts, by the court's decision, are to pay to individual municipalities and the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management nearly PLN 15 million.

The above photo was taken on Thursday in Częstochowa.

– There is no doubt that the waste left was largely dangerous, they were highly toxic, they found the presence of carcinogens, mutagenic, irritating or corrosive nature. They contained volatile substances with an extremely dangerous chemical composition for health – said Sergiusz Skorek.

Therefore, the effects of the practice are difficult to estimate. The convicts acted in a cynical way, for easy and fast profit, they exposed the lives and health of many people. To this day, all the damage they caused cannot be determined. The prosecutor's office does not rule out appeal.

– We will become familiar with the written justification of the judgment, which is currently unlawful. We will make further decisions after forgetting with the written motives of this decision – announced Sergiusz Skorek.

The scale of illegal waste landfills in Poland is huge, which we have repeatedly shown in reports.